1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet conveying apparatus and an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a facsimile, and a printer includes a sheet conveying apparatus having a plurality of conveying rollers (rotating member pairs) and conveying a sheet to a transfer portion and a fixing portion by the conveying rollers. As such a sheet conveying apparatus, a sheet conveying path bent between the respective conveying rollers may be employed for the purpose of space-saving, the realization of high image quality, and so on.
A sheet is conveyed along a guide member, and if the sheet is deflected when the rear end of the sheet passes through the guide member, the sheet rear end is hopped by a restoring force due to the elasticity of the sheet itself. For example, when the sheet rear end passes through a pre-transfer guide provided on the upstream in a conveying direction of the transfer portion, the sheet rear end is hopped by the restoring force, whereby a transfer failure (image blur) occurs in an image formed on the sheet due to the shock of the hopping of the sheet rear end.
Thus, in the prior art, a pre-transfer guide includes an elastic member, for example, and when a sheet passes through the pre-transfer guide, the hopping of the sheet rear end is reduced by the elastic member (see, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 5-257395). Namely, even when the sheet rear end is hopped by the restoring force, the hopping of the sheet rear end is reduced by the elastic member, whereby the sheet can be conveyed smoothly.
In such prior art sheet conveying apparatus, the elastic member is fixed on the downstream in the conveying direction of the pre-transfer guide. However, when the elastic member is fixed on the downstream in the conveying direction of the pre-transfer guide thus, the deflection amount of the elastic member is limited. When the deflection amount is limited thus, an impact generated when the sheet passes cannot be reduced satisfactorily, and the effect of reduction of the image blur is limited.
Thus, the present invention provides a sheet conveying apparatus and an image forming apparatus which can reduce an impact, generated when a sheet passes, to reduce image blur.